My Boyfriend is a Monster (39 page)

“Who is Tandy? One of his imaginary friends?” she asked.

“William handed him a note and said Tandy wanted him to have it since Tandy knew William’s daddy long before William was born. Joe Bob opened the note and read it,” the Preacher said and now teased her with a smile that Ambers hung on to. “The note simply said, Told you so – Tandy Warren.” The Preacher let the words linger a little while Amber pieced it all together.

She thought about it. “But-”

“Joe Bob raced to the graveyard where he saw the grave was actually disturbed, the chain was missing a link, thus it was broken.”

“Holy shit, T.W. Tandy Warren, the Witch,” Amber said
, this time not apologizing for the curse.

“Holy shit indeed,” the Preacher said laughing.

“Were you a history teacher at one time?” she asked.

“Why do you ask?”

“I had a history teacher once who got so into the stories he told, that he talked as if he was actually there. You said things as if you were there.”

“Hey sweet ass,” Andy called out. “How about some more coffee,” he yelled snapping his fingers.

Amber rolled her eyes as if she had forgotten they were here.

“Don’t worry about those gentlemen, I don’t think they’re going to be here for much longer,” the Preacher said gently touching her hand.

She could tell by the look of concern on his face that he wanted her not to be bothered by them. The touch of his hand was genuinely comforting. “God I hope so,” she said covering her mouth again. “Sorry.”

“From your lips,” he said and pointed upwards.

Getting up from the booth she tried to put on the best customer service face she could. Grabbing the coffee pot she heard a cell phone go off, she looked back and saw the Preacher pull a phone out and answer it.
Odd
, she thought. She was not sure why a man of God having a phone was odd, and then wondered.
Who doesn’t have a phone?
Then she imagined him playing Angry Birds and chuckled while walking over to her two least favorite customers of the week.

“My God sweetheart, you got a body on you,” Bobby said looking her over again.

She surmised that this was his attempt at flirting.

“Let’s cut to the chase baby, how much would it cost us to have you come back to our room and let us fuck you in that pretty little ass?” Andy asked and grabbing her as if he already paid.

Stepping back and slapping his hands away she turned and saw Frank finally back from his break. He was reaching for the phone and she hoped he was planning on calling the police.

Walking past the counter the preacher straightened his left arm fully, letting a small dagger slip out of his sleeve and into his palm. With a quick snap of his wrist the dagger sailed through the air undetected and severed the phone line. Pressing on the talk button a few times Frank could no longer get a dial tone. The Preacher walked up to Amber and gently put his hands on her shoulders and directed her behind the counter. He then turned to the two gentlemen sitting at the table that had been harassing the young waitress all evening.
“My apologies for keeping you waiting gentlemen, but I had to take a call from the Father,” he said and smiled.

“I think you got the wrong men Preacher,” Andy suggested.

“No, the Father was quite adamant about you two specifically,” he said looking around the diner. “Besides, you are the only two men here.”

“Yeah well, we weren’t told about meeting any priest in a diner, so fuck off
,” Bobby said becoming aggravated.

Th
e Preacher smiled. “Of course, as soon as you hand over the briefcase.”

Suddenly the two men became very alert and very suspicious.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Bobby stated, knowing exactly what he just said.

The Preacher tilted his head and gazed underneath the table at the oversized briefcase that resembled more of a suitcase. “The briefcase under the table to your right, if you please,” he said holding his hand out and open.

Andy pulled his gun out from under his jacket and let it sit in his hand on the table. “Again, I think you have the wrong two guys Preacher.”

Seeing the gun Frank decided to keep trying to use the phone while Amber stepped back even further.

“I just received the call and was told to relieve you of your briefcase,” the Preacher said trying to convince them that he was not mistaken. “Now you see gentlemen this is a simple equation.”

“What the fuck ar
e you talking about?” Bobby asked pulling his gun out of his jacket.

The Preacher held up his finger. “Indulge me if you wi
ll,” he insisted. “You work for a man named Charlie, a mid-level criminal from Boston who employs you both. One year ago you robbed a gentleman named Spencer Coleman, who worked for the same person I do, the Father,” he said looking upwards. “Now you took a very sizable amount of money from Mr. Coleman. The Father’s money. And killing you would only be revenge. Certainly would not solve the problem of us not having the money to continue his work,” he said looking upwards again. “So we waited and waited until Father,” the Preacher sighed looking up once again. “Found an associate of yours named Tony, who came into a very large sum of money without paying tribute to your boss Charlie. When your boss was made aware of such mistake,” he hinted tapping his own nose. “It didn’t take him long to send you two to Florida and kill him, thus getting all the money. You were to meet a pick up man in Greenwood,” he said and smiled, letting it sink in a bit for the two gentlemen who looked at each other wondering how this man had all of this information. “You would take 49 instead of 55 since you wanted to avoid as much attention as possible and that would take you right through Yazoo City. But you didn’t expect a flat,” the Preacher said holding up a little dagger. “And Yazoo City being a small town it would take a little longer than usual to fix,” he said stepping a bit closer causing both men to move back in their chairs. “The rest was just following and waiting to take the briefcase, which was going to be at your hotel room after you left here. But I got the phone call and it seems that I have other business to attend. No longer can I wait for you to go back to your hotel room, bringing us to this, the last part of the equation, time.”

The two men looked at each other each waiting for one to say something. They both looked at the Preacher who was no longer smiling.

“And yours gentlemen . . . is up,” he said as his eyes started to glow green. Fangs ripped through his gums with a loud fleshy popping sound. The two men sitting at the table were not sure what was happening but when the Preacher’s body convulsed and grew larger Andy raised his gun.

Quickly the Preacher wrapped his claws around the gun and the hand holding on to it. Yanking it violently to his right and across the table he caught Bobby square in the face. Almost knocking him off his chair he fell backwards immediately dropping his gun and raising his hand to catch the blood spraying from his nose. The Preacher sent the gun and hand back to its owner hitting Andy in the face almost
knocking him out. Seeing Bobby start to stand he yanked the hand holding the gun across the table. This time Andy’s body sprawled over the table while his hand and gun caught Bobby in the face again. His rather large nose exploded terrifically as he fell back missing the chair and crumbled to the cold tiles below.

Lying on the ground Bobby felt it start to go dark. Being aware of the money at stake he gave his head a quick shake a
nd scrambled for his gun. Hearing Andy being smacked around above him, he found his gun and clambered to his feet. He stumbled away from the table a safe distance and turned around.

The Preacher let go of Andy’s hand and
let him fall into the chair where he sat useless. Raising the gun Bobby watched as the monstrous Preacher standing beside their table twenty feet away, was almost instantly an inch in front of him before he could blink.

The Preacher brought his right hand directly up. Ripping through the flesh like butter he sunk three claws in behind Bobby’s chin and up into his mouth. Anchoring his fingers behind the jaw he pulled his arm back forcibly, ripping away the jaw with all its teeth and all the flesh at the front of his neck.

Blood poured downward onto the floor sounding like someone dumping a runny milkshake. With no bottom jaw Bobby was only able to scream briefly until his tongue fell out of his throat and slapped against his chest. Falling to his knees as his screams turned to gargles, fleshy blood spewed on his hands as they searched for skin and bone that were no longer there.

Seeing his friend’s lower jaw and throat being ripped off Andy scurried to his feet. Grabbing his gun and the briefcase he looked around the diner for the quickest escape route. He saw Amber and the thought of using her as a shield to get away quickly entered his head. “Shit just got real,” he told himself and set his pudgy frame in motion.

Amber watched in disbelief as the man who just told her the most interesting story was ripping another human being apart. She did not realize it was Frank, not her that was screaming the high pitch cry for help, into the phone that did not work of all things. Amber also did not realize that the fat man with a gun was running towards her. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Andy lumbering towards her. Turning to run away she came face to face with Preacher and stood dumb founded as to how he got in front of her so quick.

Andy was also caught off guard as he ran straight into the clutches of a Monster.

Grabbing Andy by the neck the Preacher picked him straight up into the air and squeezed. His face instantly went purple as blood was already dripping from his nose and ears. Squeezing harder he became over joyed and watched the blood start to run from his eyes. The pressure became so overwhelming Andy’s eyes began rupturing. Finally the Preacher slammed his body on the counter. Amber jolted at the sound of the thud and Frank stopped calling for help. Squeezing his throat one more time created a low resonating (Plop) and he was dead.

The Preacher walked behind the counter passing Amber. “Stay here,” he said going into the back kitchen. Walking behind Frank who stood shaking in the window and still holding the phone he turned the faucet on and began washing his hands. Frank could not move, he just kept looking forward and hoped for the best. Finally the tap turned off and the Preacher reappeared at the counter. Bending down he retrieved the rather l
arge briefcase and pulled Andy off of the counter. Replacing him with the briefcase he pressed the two tiny buttons and the latches sprung open. “Would you come out here Frank,” he asked politely.

Frank did
not move.

Amber gave him another moment. Still he did not move. “Get out here Frank,” Amber said turning her head and mouthing, “Before he kills you.”

“I don’t plan on killing anyone else tonight my dear,” the Preacher said hearing her lips pronounce the words. Counting the money bundles inside the case he set one off to the side.

Amber’s eyes just grew as she looked at Frank and twitched her head angrily
, trying to spur him coming out to the counter area. Finally Frank came out reluctantly and stood beside her, but still somewhat behind her.

“If it makes you feel better, everything I said about them being criminals was true,”
the Preacher said sniffing at the air until it led him directly over Andy. Kneeling down he extended his claws and forced his hand into the chest. With a long wet sucking sound he pulled out his hand and stood back up producing Andy’s inactive heart. “It’s rotting,” he said examining it. “I’d say, eighteen months, two years tops and he would have had a heart attack.” Dropping it on top of the body he laughed. “Probably face first into large plate of something fried I’m sure.”

Amber and Frank both stood silent as the Preacher walked over to Bobby’s body.

“Now this one,” the Preacher said as he noticed it was still twitching. “He took a little bit more care of himself,” he said rolling the body over onto his back. Driving his claws into the chest and ripping out the heart Amber could swear that it was still beating. “My kind can eat and drink like you, but we also need a certain amount of Myocardium.”

“What is that?” Amber asked.

“Simply? The Heart,” he answered and smiled.

“Like a vampire,” Frank said out of nowhere.

“In a way Frank,” he said opening his mouth. Letting his fangs click downwards caused both Frank and Amber to jump. “But I am not a vampire.”

“You look like a vampire,” Frank said much quieter this time.

“Will you shut the fuck up,” Amber suggested strongly.

“True, we have been called vampires, but I assure you they do not exist,” he said examining the heart. “You see the Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated muscle found in the walls and histological foundation of the heart. To be specific the Myocardium,” he said bringing the heart to his nose and breathing in deeply. “The cells that constitute cardiac muscle, called cardiomyocytes or myocardiocytes contain only one, unique nucleus. This is not unlike what water means to life, give it abundance and life thrives, give it a little and it wilts.” Forcing his fangs into the heart he let the squishing sound of wet rubber burst with each chew.

Hoping it was just a dream Frank closed his eyes and began to silently will himself awake. Amber raised her hand to her mouth feeling as if she was about to throw up.